Which American poet wrote 'The Road Not Taken'?

Robert Frost wrote the American poem “The Road Not Taken.” First published in the August 1915 issue of The Atlantic Monthly, it later appeared as the opening poem in Frost's 1916 collection Mountain Interval. The poem has four five-line stanzas, for a total of 20 lines, and uses an ABAAB rhyme pattern.

Its familiar image is a traveler choosing between two woodland paths, but the poem is more ironic than its reputation suggests. The speaker says the roads were “really about the same,” yet imagines that he will later claim he chose the less-traveled one. This tension is why the poem is often misunderstood as a straightforward celebration of individualism or nonconformity.

Frost's friend Edward Thomas helped inspire the poem. While the two men walked together in England, Thomas often regretted whichever route they had chosen because he imagined the alternative might have been better. Frost sent Thomas an advance copy after returning to New Hampshire. The poem's title refers to the road not chosen, emphasizing regret, uncertainty, and the stories people tell about their past decisions.